


Novu

by TheGoddessOfRegrets



Series: Camp Camp Powers AU [1]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Ancient Language, Camp Camp Powers AU, Fear, Max does too, Preston has powers, Sadness, So does everyone else, emotion, powers, this is kinda sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 05:09:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14709689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGoddessOfRegrets/pseuds/TheGoddessOfRegrets
Summary: Basically, I have this au in my head where everyone at Camp Campbell has some sort of powers based on who they are or what they do or like. In this story, Max kind of antagonizes Preston, for whatever reason you decide I guess, and Preston more or less gets emotionally hurt and uses his powers. He doesn't kill anyone though, so don't worry. There's NO death.Can be seen as Max/Preston angst if you want.This is part of a series.





	Novu

**Author's Note:**

> A fight ensues.

It was storming greatly outside.

The wind blew so hard that Preston thought he would be ripped to pieces. His hair continuously hit his face and got caught in his eyes, making them simultaneously water. He could barely find it in himself physically to stand. He was barely holding himself in place in the midst of an open clearing. He felt like his body was going to be picked up and thrown across the world.

"So, you just gonna sit there?!" yelled a familiar voice laced with aggression. "You keep saying you're not a fucking weakling, and then you let the goddamn WIND get the best of ya?!" It was Max. It could only be Max. The condescending tone and snide remarks immediately gave away who it was. You could be blind and still know it was him.

Preston slowly lifted his head and opened his left eye, the only one without strands of hair in it, to look at the child who antagonized him. There, only about fifteen feet in front of him stood Max, arms crossed in a demeaningly unimpressed manner. The wind seemed to have no effect on him at all, and he stood there with a concerning narcissistic determination that made Preston shiver more than he already was from the wind chill. The sky was grey and rain seemed inevitable, yet only wind ensued as they stayed there in the clearing.

Taking about five steps forward, Max flashed his signature mischievous smile.

"You always get so fucking uptight whenever we show off our powers and then you claim you're NOT jealous. You think anyone believes that shit?!"

Of course this was happening. Of course they were talking about his "lack of powers." That's all Max would ever bring up in fights with Preston. It didn't matter what STARTED the fight, because one insignificant little inconvenience would quickly turn into an "I have this and you don't" sort of argument. An argument that left Preston feeling worthless more than half the time. Everyone at camp had powers they showed off daily, using them to either cause trouble or help those that got into said trouble. However, Preston never used powers. Everyone made fun of him for this constantly and saw him as weak. VERY weak. Especially Max. Why wouldn't he?

Max was special, strong, and extremely dangerous. Max had a power called "Cerex"(SAIR-ex) which, in an ancient language, meant "Will of Death." In other words, Max had the ability to render others anything from moderately uncomfortable to terminally and/or fatally ill. If it was his "will," he could seemingly conjure a disease of his choice out of thin air, anything from the common cold to heart cancer, and render someone weak with it. He was, if he wanted to be, death itself.

This contributed slightly to his parents' disregard and lack of care and love towards him. His powers were not only a force to be reckoned with, making the slightly fear him, but he also possessed a power that gave them a bad reputation. Just because you're powerful doesn't mean you're lovable and wanted by everybody. This is something that many totalitarian leaders did not understand. So, harboring a son that could bring death to anyone he wished wasn't exactly something people saw as a good trait within your family. Especially since this power was almost 100% transferred through childbirth. So, as a result, they unrightfully abandoned him.

However, his knowledge of his power did make him kind of an asshole. For he knew that everyone feared him, even though he probably wouldn't kill anyone.

 

Yet.

 

And of course, being so strong on the totem pole of power left him in a state of endless bragging rights and the ability to mock everyone else around him. Especially someone as "powerless" as Preston.

But, the thing is, Preston DID have powers.

Preston had a power known as "Novu"(NO-VOO) which translates to "Heart-filler" in an ancient tongue. The reason it was called this because, unlike every other power in the world, this power revolved around emotions. Preston had the power to control the emotions of others. Well, more like create them.

Being a playwright, Preston metaphorically had the ability to mold the emotions of his "audience" with his words, writing, and hands. In turn, he was cursed with this power since the age of seven-years-old. The reason he was "cursed" is that having the power Novu was extremely rare-

and ILLEGAL. 

This is because those who have Novu as a power do not actually summon emotions the way that Ceren, those who have the power Cerex, summon disease. Novuns, those with Novu, "create" emotions. When their powers are in use, their victim does not actually feel the emotion they had summoned. They simply involuntarily express it. If a Novun summons happiness into someone, that person is not actually happy. They simply act happy while the inside of their head is blank. They have no thoughts, happy or sad and anything alike, and they simply smile and laugh numbly. This means that when the power is removed or has been cut off, they harbor no happiness and have no memory of being under the power or even that they were "happy" at all. 

This power is actually stronger than Cerex, which is seen as one of, if not THE strongest power one can have. Preston, if he wished, could control any emotion and make anyone feel any feeling he wanted them to.

Except for one.

 

Love.

 

Love was a strong and important emotion and was banned by the most ancient Novuns themselves from ever being under the control of a person who harbored Novu. This is because every emotion a Novu controlled was basically artificial and fake, but with enough time could become real. DANGEROUSLY real. This includes love, which can go from being a simple love conjured from thin air to a true love. A love so strong that even after the power was gone, it still existed, and was real. This love could be so dangerously strong and addicting to the victim that it can lead to obsession, stalking, and murder.

Hell, such a thing even happened to a foolish Novun named Zanzi. His name meant "Lustful Soul," and he was one of the first five ancient Novun that the world had ever known of. He used his powers to enchant a man he lusted for with love, and after about a month of being under enchantment, the man felt true love towards Zanzi. However, Zanzi's name wasn't just a random one gained for no reason. He was only lustful of the man and didn't truly love him, so after a month, he lifted the enchantment. However, the man stayed detrimentally in love with him. So in love that he kidnapped, violated, and killed the idiotic Novun. After doing so, he admitted to it, not out of guilt but out of proudness. He was to be executed for murder, but after learning of the spell, he was released promptly as the inability to control himself was not entirely his fault. Since that day, Novuns were forced to give up their ability to control love. They did this by swearing to never use this power again and to never explain how one should use it to any future Novuns. The only remaining trace of said power to control love is in books that have been restricted in libraries from anyone who was human, Novun, or suspected to be Novun. Preston would see this constantly and lose his confidence every time. However, nowadays, any existing Novuns were persecuted and killed. They were seen as a threat to the world because their power was one that could render even the strongest man helpless.

This lack of acceptance and fear of death led to many Novuns like Preston committing suicide or going into permanent hiding, where they died from loneliness and lack of love.

However, this meant that they had to actually EARN love and friendship. They couldn't just show off their powers and gain instant fame. They had to actually be human in order to be loved. Hell, even true humans with no powers had it better off then Novuns. Sure, they were seen as hardly useful and were often given secondhand jobs and little to no opportunities, but at least they got to keep their human right to live. Novuns didn't have that.

 

Preston took a deep somber breath as he stared hopelessly towards the Ceren in from of him, who was frowning in major disapproval. Preston, although much kinder, felt his pain. No, he wasn't abandoned like Max, but his due to his powers, his parents sent him away to Camp Campbell where they prayed he wouldn't be discovered. They explained to him how to efficiently hide his power and why he should at all. Even though he was only around the age of ten or eleven, he understood everything perfectly. However, he was still hesitant as hell to come to camp, but his parents sent him, promising he could further his love of playwriting and also be safe. So, reluctantly, he said goodbye to them and stayed here in the chaotic confines of the camp.

He hated being a Novun, especially since the power Novu was just about as artificial as the emotions it created and could not be spread through childbirth. You either, unfortunately, gain it around the age of six or sixteen, or you gain it from experiencing your own emotional trauma. So, in technicality, Preston was about as lucky as a Novu could get.

Max didn't know of Preston's power, no one did, and Preston made sure of that.

 

However, Max was starting to hurt Preston greatly with the tormenting and teasing, especially since any power that Preston DID have was to be hidden away, possibly forever.

 

"So," began the irritated Ceren ten-year-old. "Are you gonna prove yourself, or will you continue to be a second-class, unwanted, powerless human kid?" Harsh. That burned.

 

Preston gritted his teeth tightly. That's it.

 

Looking Max right in the eyes, Preston slowly began raising his left hand. Bright blue shimmers and sparkles disappeared and reappeared simultaneously as they resonated around his fingers.

Max stared confused, trying to hold in a laugh at how girly and ridiculous this power appeared on the surface.

Then, just as the Indian boy was about to speak, Preston, with a flick of his wrist, sent a blue luminescent wave that rippled through the air and hit Max with a physical force that knocked him back a few steps and made him fall to his knees.

Preston watched mindfully as Max's eyes began dripping with involuntary tears. They poured from the boy's eyes even though no sob escaped him, and his eyes were glazed over to that point of being straight glass. They had also been tinted a light turquoise.

Sighing in discontent and regret, he stood to his feet for the first time in about ten minutes as the wind miraculously died down. Hesitantly, he walked over to the huddled weeping boy and looked down on him. Max lifted his head and stared right into Preston's eyes with his own glossy expression. Preston wasn't happy about this, even though he was momentarily safe. He knew Max was locked inside his own head and wasn't actually thinking or feeling any sort of sadness. It made him slightly nauseous. Max's face showed pure unadulterated sadness, tears streaming endlessly down his cheeks, but his head was empty.

However, what ate at Preston the most was what he'd have to do to make sure no one was suspicious of him and that Max would for sure forget any of this.

The shimmers around Preston's hand turned white like snow as he lifted it and ever so gently tapped Max's forehead with his index finger, which was enough to render Max "unconscious" from fear. Max fell forward with a choking gasp and hit the ground with a not-so-gentle thud. His eyes remained glassy in appearance, except with a white tint now, and his body was mostly motionless.

Preston took a deep breath of sadness. He stared down at Max's limp form. He knew he would have to lie. He would have to carry Max back with any strength he had and pretend as though he simply found Max that way and wasn't a witness, let alone the criminal, and pray that Max doesn't need some kind of medicine from Neil to wake him up like he has before. Bending halfway to the ground, he took Max by the shoulders and slowly hauled the boy over his own. 

Preston took one final deep breath before starting towards the camp. His entrance would be awkward. It would be dramatic, exaggerated, and completely fake. 

It had to be to keep himself safe.

 

It pissed him off so much.

**Author's Note:**

> Again, the reason they are fighting is up to you. I couldn't really think of something, so even if your idea is stupid, it can be whatever you want. Make up your own reason for battle.
> 
> Also, this can be seen as Max/Preston angst if you want, even though that's not really what it is.
> 
> This au belongs to me (unless someone else made it and I don't know). You can make fics based off of this if you want. Also, since this is a series, I wouldn't mind being asked or told which character I should write about next. So tell me in the comments what child, or counselor in David's case, you would like me to write about in the next fic. However, you CANNOT tell me what power to give them. This is my au so their powers are up to me, but you can request genres, like angst and fluff, except for lemons. I can't write lemons...
> 
> And they're KIDS dammit!  
> You can also request ships.
> 
> But not maxvid. NO MAXVID PLEASE.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
